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Just the Crumbs Offers Aid to Those Still Picking Up the Pieces

An EF-3 tornado tore through Hattiesburg on Saturday, Jan. 21, 2017, taking four lives and leaving several others without homes.

In its aftermath, people came together in many ways to help rebuild the city and neighboring cities. Just the Crumbs, a local non-profit ministry came within the first week of the storm and has been in Hattiesburg for over seven weeks feeding residents, workers, and anyone who needs something to eat.

Just the Crumbs operates several thrift stores throughout the state of Mississippi. These clothes are given away to victims of the storm. (Photo by Cornelius Thompson)

Don Smith, is on the Board of Directors for the NPO. They travel to cities all over the southeast to assist people in need.

“My brother-in-law, Lavon Haden, when the storm hit Columbia last Christmas, went in on Christmas Eve Day with a hotdog cart and 50 hotdogs. He sat beside the road and before lunch, people who’d come by and saw him, brought grills and cookers and they served 500 people that day.”

The ministry will remain in Hattiesburg if they are able to sustain providing food for the locals. They are strictly donation based and as such, are maintained strictly by local volunteers and food donations.

Tommy Davis, one of the members of the Forrest County and Perry County District Attorney’s Office, provided assistance to the ministry through the work program. (Photo by Cornelius Thompson)

“In Denham Springs, we stayed about five months. We normally come in and set up operations about a week and a half to two weeks after the storm,” Smith said.